153 Responses to Guestbook

Luke absolutely loved the trip to Winchester’s science centre today, so much so he wants to go back in the Easter holidays, so much work must have gone into the organisation and keeping our children safe, thank you , Charlotte

Today has certainly been an emotional day as Bonham says his last goodbye to Haylands. I would like to thank every member of staff for the last seven years. He has enjoyed his time here so very much but is now ready for the new challenges ahead. Thank you for teaching him and taking such good care of him. I am so very proud of all he has achieved.
At the other end of the school I wish to thank everyone involved in Buddy’s reception year. He has settled into school life so well and I couldn’t have asked for a better start.
I hope you all have a restful summer and look forward to seeing you all again in September.

I know that all staff who have encountered Bonham will agree with me in saying that he has been a delight to teach and will be remembered with fondness. We all wish him well in his new school and eagerly anticipate news of his next successes. Have a happy summer break xxx

Thank you so much to all the teachers and staff that make Haylands so great. In particular I want to thank Mrs Bowbrick and Mrs Cook for teaching my son Arthur this year and playing such an important part in helping my son turn into a young man to be proud of. Thank you for your care, support, understanding and time x

It has been a real pleasure to teach Arthur and watch him grow in confidence. We will miss his smiley face in the classroom. Thank you again so much for our lovely gifts – overwhelming! Hope you have a lovely summer holiday. Mrs Bowbrick and Mrs Cook

Huge Thank you to Mrs Lacey for making Theo’s first year at school a very happy one. He has come on in leaps and bounds and is always telling us how much he Loves you. Also to Mrs Dixon , Mrs Daish, Mrs spencer , we are very grateful for all you hard work also. You have all given him a great start to school life . Last Thank you goes to Playzone breakfast club, thank you ladies without you We couldn’t get to work on time. We really appreciate you all xx

A massive Thank you to Mrs Richie for being the most amazing teacher for Jack this year!!! You have helped him grow into a confident young boy! Also to Mrs Craig and Mrs Elliot too as I know you play a massive role along side Mrs Richie! We really do appreciate all the hard work you do!! Thank you xx

Just wanted to say a big Thank You to All staff /Foh involved in a Haylands got Talent. We had a great time watching all the acts . The children had all put so much effort in. Mr Nev Clark you are Amazing and we were so pleased your group came first . You do so much for Haylands ,and I just want you to know that as a parent your hard work does not go unnoticed.We are very grateful for all you do .

Thank you for your comment. It was great to see all the acts improve through the club before seeing their amazing performances. All the children worked so hard. I’m glad I didn’t have to choose a winner! – Mrs Rose

Many thanks for your kind words and I wish all the children and parents all the very best for the future. – Mr Nev Clark X

A HUGE well done to all Hayland’s little stars that shone in Hayland’s got Talent. I was lucky enough to help Mrs Rose in the after school club and they all persevered and over came shyness and nerves. You are all winners 🙂

Thank you! We had a great time putting the production on; it was a fabulous way to make sure the children take a special memory away from Haylands. Thank you to all the parents, friends and family who came along to support the children.

What a lovely, thoughtful comment. Indeed we did have a great time and that is down to the company of a fabulous group of children who made it so worthwhile. Thank you so much for taking the time to post your appreciation xx

Thankyou to Mr Bailey, Mrs Gartell, Mrs Rose and Mrs Sheppard for taking the time tonight to show us the teaching methods you use when teaching our children Maths.
It was a very informative session and helped me to know how to help both my boys with their Numeracy homework in the future it was aimed to every year group which is sometimes difficult I’m sure but you all did an amazing job preparing and delivering this.

A big thank you to all the staff who took the Year 4 children to PGL and bought them back all safe and sound. Harry had an amazing time, he has some amazing memories and said you were all ‘epic’, especially Miss Pope and Mrs May who were ‘proper going for it’ while dancing. Thank you 🙂

Thank you to the reception team for putting on a great morning for super reading. It was lovely to see the different activities that the children can access and the children enjoyed having their grown ups in school with them.

Thank you to all involved in receptions Nativity, all the children were amazing. It was lovely to see all the children happily waving at family. Plus lots of very proud parents/grandparents watching . Well done we loved it x

Thank you to all that were involved in the reception class nativity, it was fabulous. Watching my son I would have never imagined a few months ago he would get up on stage and sing etc, his confidence has grown immensely. All down to the staff in reception x

Just wanted to thank all the reception staff for their amazing work with the school nativity!! I could not believe how well each and every child done! Jack looked like he had a fantastic time and I can’t believe what a different child he is. It’s all down to your hard work!! Thank you from 2 very proud parents 🙂

Thank you to all the staff who gave up their valuable time to support the fireworks event tonight. A special thanks must go to Gill and Layla for having to field so many phone calls today (amongst other things).

My son Arthur was always going to go to Haylands, it made the most sense being so near to us, but I never realised how much he and I would love this school. Today is his last day in reception and I would like to say thank you to everyone who has made his first year so wonderful. From Mrs Pope the librarian, to the Friends of Haylands who always give up so much of their free time for the enjoyment of our children. But most importantly I need to thank the reception staff, in particular, Mrs Richie. She has been absolutely fantastic with Arthur, patient, understanding, and just completely wonderful. His first year at Haylands has been absolutely terrific, he has learnt and developed so much. Thank you!

Thank you very much for your lovely comments, it is very much appreciated. We feel privileged to have had the opportunity this year to have taught Arthur and his friends and seen them grow into kind and independent young learners. Mrs Lacey, Mrs Richie, Mrs Craig, Mrs Elliott, Mrs Daish and Mrs Dickson.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Richie and all the staff in her reception class. Maisy has absolutely loved her first year at Haylands. It’s been lovely seeing her confidence grow and watching her learn so many new things.

Thank you very much for your kind message. Maisy and her friends have been a delight to teach this year and we feel very lucky to have seen them develop into independent young learners. Mrs Richie, Mrs Craig and Mrs Elliott

Getting results like we had today makes me pleased that we moved to Haylands. There could have been a totally different feeling in our house tonight! Thank you for all the support to get my daughters confidence back up and help her to enjoy learning.

A big, big thank you to all the wonderful staff at Haylands who have taught my daughter, Phoebe, over the past 5 years. You all did an amazing job and this shows in her SATs results. We are very proud. 🙂 Vicki and Patrick Craig

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Mrs Richie and all the reception staff today! Jack had a fantastic moving up day and said when he got upset Mrs Richie helped him feel better :-). So just want to say a massive thank you from Me and Jack 🙂

Hi I would like to say a very big thank you to Mrs Dennis, Mr Lynch and all that were involved with the year 4 pgl trip. My daughter had a great time and came back full of it telling us lots of stories about the activities and some riddles the pgl staff jad shared too…she enjoyed the whole experience, this was a huge achievement for her as it’s the first time she’s stayed away from home without a family member so thank you for the fun times you gave her and thank you for keeping her safe. Hope all involved are enjoy the rest now.

I’d just like to say a big thank you and a very well done to the children at Haylands. We went today to look around the Reception Open Day and both staff and pupils were lovely… phoebe showed us Round and she answered all the questions we had and was very polite. Thank you very much. Shame hubby was working but hopefully there will be another.
Thanks again 🙂

Thank you so much to Mrs Whitty and Mrs Elliot for helping Richard settle back into haylands. I regret ever taking him out in the first place! He was nervous to be starting back in a different class but you have done an amazing job and to see him actually enjoy school again is brilliant! The progress he has made since January is unbelievable and without you he wouldn’t have got as far as he has so thank you so so much!!! XxXxXxXxXxXxX

I would like to say a few thank yous…firstly I would like to thank Mrs Bowbrick and her team in reception for making Reubens first yr at school so enjoyable he loved coming each and every day which showed in his 100% attendance. We are going to miss going into reception class in sept we were always made to feel welcome and involved with our childs learning. .thank you x
Wishing Mrs Blackledge all the best we will miss seeing her around haylands x
Secondly thank you to Mrs Hall for being a great teacher..Alana has thrived this year and enjoyed all the topics with great enthusiasm. ..alana is sad to see Mrs Hall leave as she was very fond of her so we wish Mrs Hall well for her future. Hope everyone has a good summer x

I would like to say a BIG thanks to Mrs Cates and Mrs Cook for everything you have done for Alfie.
Alfie has come on well with his education but more important Alfie has been really happy and enjoyed being at school. Thank you

Thankyou Mrs Hall. Once again our year sixes have proved how wonderful they are. We hope their production was well received by their parents and that it provides the children themselves with another treasured memory of the opportunities that Haylands has given them. Thank you for staying to watch and for your kind comments which are very much appreciated, xxx

Congratulations to you all who took part in the production of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in your performance for the whole school on Thursday morning. It was so enjoyable and I could have been watching this in a West End Theatre! The acting was superb, the props amazing and the costumes fantastic. How did you remember all those lines! Well done to everyone involved.

Haylands looks a wonderful school to work in I would love to have the opportunity to join the team if wasn’t pregnant I would have applied for the EYFS teaching assistant role as it would be more than a pleasure to work with the children and staff.What a lovely school !!!!

Welcome Back Year 6! It has been lovely to read all about your exciting adventures in London. Thank you for all the interesting photographs that show what a wonderful time you enjoyed. The weather looked perfect, too. I hope we hear lots more about the trip at school next week . . .

I know that it is very difficult and not quite sure of just what but I am fed up with the amount of dogs mess left around the school entrance and close areas! Not only is a nightmare to try and get the children to avoid but the severe dangers to the children are a worry too.

Hi Karen
This is an ongoing problem. I have asked our School Travel Plan Leader to look into this. We are looking to put more awareness posters around the nearby walking routes to school and we will contact the council. We encourage members of the public, parents/carers and friends of Haylands to also contact the council direct as this may spur further action that they may be able to pursue. Regards. Greg.

Wow! An amazing performance at Junior Rock on Friday. Well done everyone including the hardworking behind the scenes crew, all staff (big thank you) and especially the children. You were a credit to the school and as I watched you perform I was very proud. May your success inspire other pupils for next year. Can’t wait!

Congratulations to all of the children who performed in J Rock at Southampton Guildhall on Friday. You were amazing and made me so very proud of you all! A huge thank you to all the adults involved too. Can’t wait until next year! Mrs Bowbrick

A huge well done to all those involved in the Junior Rock Challenge on Friday. It was an honour to come and see your amazing performance. Every one of you should be very proud of your achievements. Many thanks to the staff, friends and families of Haylands who gave so much time and love to the performance!

Thank you Mrs Clarke,
We all enjoyed taking part in the performance. It was a lovely end to our ‘Roman topic work’. Civis Romanus!
All the children in Year Three ~ and Miss Audley, Mrs Wraxton, Mrs Taylor and Mrs Hall

I would like to say thank you for the lovely books Simon and Theo got for doing their Sandwich books in the holidays. They both enjoyed the pizza party at school too. A great reward for their hard work.

Having just read the school newsletter, it is lovely to hear about all the learning going on in school. I was particularly impressed by the new page on the SEN website – I have had a look through and it is very interesting and informative. Keep up the good work at Haylands!

We have just read the County Press and was pleased to see Haylands entry into the Haylands Horticultural Show! We look forward to purchasing produce from the School, we are sure you must be growing some lovely vegetables!

I’m so delighted you enjoyed reading about the horticultural display from our school. Thankyou Eve. The Reception children really enjoyed growing vegetables and flowers throughout the school year ending July. Following the show I put the produce on display for purchasing in the KS1 area of the school. Whilst some of the produce was bought by parents quite alot remained which would have gone off, therefore I donated money myself which will be used to purchase bulbs for autumn planting with Reception. I’m sure there will be more produce next year and I will be sure to advertise a table of goodies so that everyone knows about it.

further to my message I sent a few days ago, where I said that anyone can park in a disabled bay as it is advisary only, the Isle of Wight Councils own website advises that disabled parking bays are ‘advisary only’. So the traffic warden I saw today should not be ticketing people for parking in them.

Answer: When disabled bay are issued in residential streets, the applicant is informed that the bay is advisory only and is not for their sole use.

Any vehicle which is displaying a blue badge is permitted to park in the bay. If the vehicle is not displaying a blue badge then you should contact the Police on 0845 045 4545, however please remember that these bays are advisory only and it is down to Hampshire Constabulary’s discretion as to wether they attend the site.

Having just read your latest newsletter, and noting that most of it consists of moaning at parents, I would like to point out regarding your bit about people parking in local disabled bays, that it is only an offence to park in them if there is a sign up saying to display a blue badge. if there is no sign then it is just courtesy to leave the space free. personally I haven’t parked in these but I’m afraid you have caused this problem yourselves. your bad planning has caused you to close off the drop off area due to the dangers of speeding drivers. I drop my child off at 8.25 each morning when there are virtually no cars at the school, yet there is nowhere for me to pull up, when I ring the bell on the gate it goes straight to voicemail so I end up parking next to the gate on double yellows. are there any plans to provide a practical drop off area, through either traffic calming through the existing zone or by building a new one at the front of the school?

Thank you for your comments. We are taking advice regarding the displaying of blue badges in the disabled bays. The closure of the car park was due to health and safety concerns for all our pupils. We are in discussion with the Councils Traffic Management Department to see if it is possible to utilise the bus lay by at the front of the school as a potential drop off point for parents. As always I will keep you informed through the online newsletter and school texting service. If you have any further concerns, please do make an appointment to see me at school.

Hello, as a parent of a year 1 child , I was unable to come to meet the teacher due to work commitments, I am confused as to why the children are learning ‘nonsense words’ I have heard bits from other mums but could some one please explain the reason for it. Many thanks

During the summer term all children in year 1 are required to take a ‘Phonic screening assessment.’ This is a short assessment that is undertaken by the class teacher. There are a range of words in this test, all of them are easy to blend but some are nonsense words.

The nonsense words assess the childs knowledge of particular sounds and their ability to blend them. In previous assessments children have tried to make these nonsense words into real words and have consequently failed to achieve the score needed to pass. Subsequently we have decided to develop the children blending skills by giving them the opportunity to read these nonsense words. In 1NY we are referring to them as the names of aliens (all nonsense words have an alien picture next to them in the assessment).

I would like to mention that we are not teaching children to read nonsense words, just teaching them how they can use their sounds to work out what the word says.

In response to last weeks newsletter and the comments made regarding lack of participation in the summer reading challenge. Are the few children that made the effort of creating the story sandwich going to be rewarded in some way? Maybe a book token or star of the week would be appropriate, otherwise where is the incentive for children to want to participate in this type of initiative in the future?. Also what about the library reading challenge Creepy House? I bet a lot of children took part in that at one of the local libraries but nothing is mentioned about this. Maybe it needs to be highlighted in an assembly?

Dear Sarah,
In answer to your question we will be rewarding all those who submitted the summer reading challenge. These will be presented in assembly and highlighted in the newsletter. I am working on this with Mrs Crossley, our school librarian, as she was instrumental in setting the challenge for me. Mrs Crossley works part-time at Haylands but we will be making those presentations shortly. As for the Creepy House library challenge I will ask for pupil responses, however as yet we have not been notified by the libraries, who, or how many children from Haylands, took part. Many thanks for your comments.

Dear Mr Hopper,
In this weeks newsletter, you mention the meet the teacher morning and said ‘We hope by sharing our expectations with you it will help parents and families support learning at home’. I would like to speak out on behalf of all the working parents. I would love to be able to attend family learning mornings, sports days and meet the teacher sessions but unfortunately some of us have jobs that are not flexible. I also teach and as you know getting time off is very difficult. At my school we have sessions between 6 and 8pm to make sure we can see as many parents as possible, it means a couple of late evenings but it is really worth considering. The only thing I have managed to attend at Haylands was a bedtime story session, my son would love to have opportunities to show off his school to me. Please don’t label us as parents who don’t care about our children’s education, we do everything we can to support them.

I agree with you, Carolyn Lane, I am also a teacher and find it difficult to attend these sessions at Haylands. The school I work at thinks about the working parents and offers out of school hours for ‘meet the teacher’, plus Christmas productions and other shows. We do care about our children and would love to be able to support them too.

I absolutely agree with this. As a working parent not only is it very disappointing not to be able to share more of our children’s learning experiences but it is also very difficult to see the disappointment in your child that their parent cannot be there. Perhaps by offering different time slots for family learning, meet the teacher etc you would engage with far more parents and everyone would benefit. We all want to see our children achieve and building positive home / school relationships should surely be a key contributor to this.

Dear Carolyn, Vicki and Rachel,
Thank you for your comments. I would like to reassure you that my newsletter item was not labelling working parents, such as yourselves, or others, as not caring. If any inference is to be drawn I would have hoped that more parents who do not work, may have considered attending the session. I am very aware of the constraints placed upon working parents and particularly those in our profession. We are always looking to find ways to engage with as many parents as possible. We do offer later appointments for Parent/Teacher meetings but I will admit these are not as late as 8pm. We will be offering more bedtime story sessions which I hope you might be able to attend. I know this is an issue and one I will give more consideration to.
Kind regards

Hi Hayley. On our website and under ‘Our School’ > ‘General Information’ there is a policies section. There you will find our ‘Behaviour’ policy which covers discipline. We are currently looking at our homework policy and aim to have that on this section of the website very soon. Any specific questions relating to homework needs to be directed to the class teacher. I hope that helps. Thanks.

It is scary that the time has came for year 6 to leave. I have laods of wonderful memories, but i just dont want to say them. Thank you to all the Teachers that have surported me and done what a teacher should.

Would just like to say a massive thank you to all staff, children and parents / carers associated to Haylands Primary School over the last 5 years. I have had an amazing time here and thoroughly enjoyed all the experiences (trips, plays, family learning mornings etc) and the children I have taught. Thank you also for all the kind gifts and good luck wishes – all are appreciated. Haylands you will be fondly remembered and I look forward to keeping up to date through this great website. Kind regards Mr Chubb!

Well done on a great WW2 performance by the year 4’s. A lot of work and probably patience went into putting it all together. George really enjoyed himself and relished to chance to stand in at last minute dressed as a woman for Thursday’s show. Will both of the performances be available on DVD as I wasn’t there to witness Thursdays.

Over the past two months I have had the pleasure of attending Haylands Primary School. As always the atmosphere at the School was warm and friendly. I particularly enjoyed sports day, seeing the children move around the school and help each other through their events was wonderful – they all appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves! I hope you all have a lovely summer holiday, and the sun continues to shine for you all. I look forward to helping in school again.

Hello Do the Children have to wear the white polo shirts with the logo on bought from the Ryde Shop? I have spoken to a lot of parents in the same situation whatever we use they do not look clean and white. I don’t know if its the quality as cheaper white polo shirts from larger stores look so much better.

Hi Karen
The polo shirts do not have to be the ones with the logo on. We understand that children get through a number of shirts for one reason or another and hence allow plain polo shirts to be worn. I hope that clears that up and we will look at the wording of any literature that may have caused some confusion. Regards.

Thank you for your positive feedback,Mrs Grimes; it means such a lot. My class enjoyed watching Thomas’ demonstration which was the result of a homework task about natural disasters. Its always so rewarding when children ‘go the extra mile’ and Thomas was one of many who did exactly that; the standard of work produced by Year 6 for this activity was very high. Well done to year 6! Mrs Clarke

It is really difficult for Year Three to keep walking past the fascinating exhibition about World War Two . . . There is so much to look at and all the homemade displays are so interesting. My class would really enjoying having some time to appreciate it all properly – we promise it will be a “Look and don’t touch” visit. Never has so much been so interesting to so many! Well done to all the Year Four Historians. Mrs Hall and Year Three

Haylands Roman Art at the Mardi Gras….Just want to say a big thank you to everyone. Parents, teachers, and pupils etc. The costumes were fab, the shields were amazing and the weather was fabulous. I am proud to be able to say I was a part of it, even if I did manage to escape the dancing. Thank you 🙂

Well done to everyone who took part in the Country Dancing on Wednesday, we really enjoyed watching the children take part, especially when the mums and dads had to dance! My daughter Erin wants to take part again next year. Glad that the school takes part in this local event.

Hello Mrs Craig,
“Word of the week” is a competition for the children, the aim being to increase the general level of vocabulary. Each week a new word is announced – the children are encouraged to submit a sentence using the word in an appropriate context. The word is also used as a focus in class during the week’s lessons. The winners’ names are announced on the web site and, at the end of each term, that term’s winners will be entered into a draw for a prize. If this word can also be brought up at home, then even better!
Hope this helps.
Librarian.

Our daughter Sarah is new to Haylands, we were unsure whether to move her mid-term, but she was unhappy, so we took the plunge and pulled her out. For the first few weeks at Haylands, Sarah was paired up with “buddy’s” and treated like a celebrity, gawped at by everyone, Sarah loved it. That attention died away after a while but the positive atmosphere didn’t. For the first time ever, Sarah came home and wanted to read to us, stating her favourite subject now was literacy, maths and science. Sarah has particularly enjoyed the recent “Tudor day” a real student participation and instant improvement of her knowledge of the Tudors, as soon as I collected her from school she was full of jokes and stories of the day.
I recently met with Mrs. Hall for an informal teacher/parent chat. What a lovely teacher, very encouraging and nurturing towards Sarah’s needs. We sat together to talk about what Sarah needed to do to improve academically and work together – parent, teacher, child – we all needed to figure out the best ways forward. It was clear that Sarah was happy at Haylands and her behaviour was good, she was more confident and she was enjoying her work, but we needed more Math’s Practice, Mrs. Hall gave me names of books from WHS that could help Sarah to practice her Math’s.
Sarah is flourishing at Haylands. She goes swimming once a week with the school, which is fantastic. Sarah really enjoys the morning challenge, it’s different every day and Sarah thinks it’s great. Sarah gets so excited when she tells us about her day at school; it’s so great to see. Thank you so much for bringing out the best in Sarah.
Sarah is so much more confident and happier, really enjoying her childhood and being part of her local community.
Thank you
Debbie & Tony.

Thank you to Harry and Jess in Year 3 for a lovely morning at the Waterside pool, where Mrs Kral, one of our Parent Governors, Harry and Jess’s Mums went to witness the prize giving of your pictures in the swimming pool competition. Congratulation too in pulling your banner down, displaying the school’s winning entries and smiling for your pictures with the Mayor for the County Press. You both were a credit to the school and I am so pleased I was asked to go with you.

I would just like to say how lovely it is to see the excellent Tudor drawings displayed in the Yr3 wall on this web site! Your plants look like they are growing well, you are being a very busy year group! Well done.

I hope Yr6 are enjoying a well earned day out today following their SATS this week! I would just like to say how polite and well behaved all the children were that I met and talked during the course of this week, it was a pleasure to be in the school. Have a lovely weekend!

I just wanted to say well done to Steffan Hopper and his staff for this fantastic website, and for all the hard work that they all put in for the good of our children.
My son is very very lucky to have such carers and teachers.
I’m very proud that my child attends this School.

Hi Mr Woodford
Thank you very much for your kind words. It is very humbling to know that parents, and other friends of Haylands Primary, are just as proud of the work we are doing here as we are. Thank you.

Thank you for your encouragement, Mr Hopper! This was our first attempt – no rehearsal – just a trial run by our brave volunteers kindly filmed by Mr.Hammerton. We plan to make some more recordings, so watch and listen to this space!

Hi, could something be done about the bark clippings in the play areas. My daughter in reception is coming home absolutely filthy every day. Whilst I am all for a bit of mucky play, everyday is a bit much, especially when her uniform is coming home ruined as well. Bark chippings are meant to be a clean (ish) play surface.

Hi Mr Gray
We will look into this. The main concern is that we do have a safe flooring area around the playtrail, hence the chippings. However, it appears that the chippings are leading to marks which gets onto hands, uniform etc. I cannot promise an immediate solution but we will raise this at the next appropriate school meeting. Regards.

Fantastic to see the photos of the flower beds! I am sure the children will have a wonderful time using them to grow a variety of plants and vegetables! Well done to the Dad’s! I look forward to coming into school and seeing how it all develops.

What fabulous models Year 5 have made. I think I could live on any one of those and have a lovely relaxing time (except perhaps the ones with volcanoes on!) What a lot of hard work and great design skills have gone into these sculptures. Well done!

I don’t seem to be able to play the learning reports on my laptop – it doesn’t recognise mp4. Not good with computers! Can you tell me which program I need to play it? Have tried Windows media player but no luck! Thank you!

Mrs Grimes, these are quite large video files. Are you allowing enough time for them to download? Once downloaded Windows Media Player should auto-run them for you. Please let me know if you still can’t view them.

I would just like to say a BIG Thank You to Y6JC your behaviour and manners were brilliant when I called in to see you all today. It was lovely to see so many of you in your costumes and working so well in class.